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Architect: James E. VanderMolen AIA, LEED AP and Steve Fridsma AIA, LEED AP, Elevate Studio
Project: Atlantic City Boardwalk Holocaust Memorial
Owner: ACBHM Inc.
Completed: N/A (unbuilt)
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VanderMolen: This international competition called for designs for a memorial commemorating the Holocaust, shining a light on that event as well as genocide anytime and anywhere. The site is a 40-foot by 60-foot platform projecting from the famous Boardwalk in Atlantic City, N.J. It is adjacent to restaurants, casinos and game arcades on one side and a wide stretch of beach and dune grass leading to the Atlantic Ocean on the other. While the memorial design was not required to retain the platform itself, it was required to remain within the footprint. Moreover, the memorial had to stand up to the visual distractions of the surroundings while maintaining ocean views for adjacent businesses. Of 715 submissions, 13 were selected to compete in a second round. Five of these finalists were from the United States.
VanderMolen: The design we proposed met all the physical criteria and requirements. In it, we sought to provide a range of environments for interaction within the single form of the memorial. We wanted to give people choices in how they engaged with the memorial, and we knew we needed to provide a point of connection, of identification, with the people who lived and died in a different time and place. The design is inspired by the colored fabric triangles that victims of the Holocaust were forced to wear as badges of disgrace, labeling and cataloging them for disposal. The victims wore these badges either pinned to their clothing or as arm bands, in public, as they went about their daily business for all the world to see. As the oppression progressed from identifying to isolating to incarcerating to incinerating, the badges separated the victims from us and from each other. These badges provided a vivid point of connection for a modern day visitor – would I have been forced to wear one? If so, what color? And if not, how would I react to those who were forced to wear them?
VanderMolen: Many memorials are things to look at and operate on a purely sculptural level. We wanted to make an architectural, interactive environment, a space whose meaning is felt through movement and memory, and I think we succeeded in this.
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